Markus Makur, Timika – Papua province's rich natural resources have had no impact on life in the remote villages of Asmat and East Mimika Jauh, in Mimika regency.

Jakarta – Indonesia needs to speed up development in the eastern area of Papua, a remote part the country where a low-level armed rebellion has simmered for decades, President Susilo Ba

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government will speed up development in the provinces of Papua and West Papua after an assessment found both still lacking in terms of infrastructure and eco

Jambi – Traditional communities and farmers in Indonesia, particularly in Jambi province, Sumatra, are still falling victim to disadvantageous government policies and as a consequence b

Jakarta – The government is being urged to pay more attention to the country's large working-age population, the result of the Soeharto-era family planning program that reduced the nati

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – More Indonesians say they are economically worse off compared to 12 months ago and most cite the increased costs of basic goods and travel expenses a

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – With the prices of basic needs continuing to soar, life is tough for Sugeng Supriadi.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The North Sumatra provincial administration has seen the number of people living below the poverty line in the province increase progressively from 14.93 percen

Jakarta – Nearly 50 percent of Indonesia's population still lives on less than two dollars a day despite progress in recovering from the economic crisis of 1998 which plunged millions o

Morgan Mellish – On the main road into Jayapura, a large two-storey building is being erected – the bureaucrats of Papua's provincial capital are upgrading themselves to better lodgings

Anissa S.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The World Bank and IMF should review their financial aid to Indonesia to show a serious commitment to fighting corruption and poverty; otherwise they must

Andi Haswidi, Batam – Some 500 activists gathering in Batam grouped under the International Peoples Forum called Monday on all nations to hold international financial institutions (IFIs

Fadli, Batam – Activists have criticized the lack of transparency in World Bank and IMF policy-making and accused the Singaporean government of violating human rights by preventing acti

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – Recent heated debates about misleading poverty statistics may finally be settled, with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reporting that the country's poor popu

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – "Helping those who help themselves" could describe the government's latest approach to tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment, with community developm

M.

Andy Mukherjee – In Siti Maimunah's Jakarta office, on the wall behind her spartan desk, hangs a placard.

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – A study on the economic impact of building six new inner-city turnpikes has fleshed out the reality of the income gap between the rich and the poor.

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The government is setting aside at least Rp 3 trillion (some US$300 million) in funds from this year's state budget to help kick off financing for infrastructure

Jakarta – Her chores are done and Tina is waiting for her husband to come home to their makeshift shack under Matraman overpass in Central Jakarta. She is not alone.

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The many poverty reduction programs the government implemented in 2005 took only a million people out of absolute poverty, a survey reveals.

Mark Forbes, Jakarta – Papua's first directly elected governor has warned Indonesia must deliver "justice, equality and prosperity" or face the prospect of more violence and an exodus o

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Hiding in a tattered hut in West Papua's dense jungle and existing on food brought by sympathetic villagers, university student Everistus Kayep is confused by the

Rusman, Samarinda – It was 4:30 in the morning and the sun was not yet shining, but 13-year-old Rizki Gunawan and his little sister Astari had to leave the warmth of their beds and head

Jakarta – The government has called on local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to obey the laws governing the establishment of such groups, and has asked foreign NGOs to obtain offi

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has met with survivors on the earthquake devastated island of Nias in western Sumatra and has urged residents to be patient.

Jakarta – Prior to its fuel price hike plan in April, which will eventually reduce budget expenditures for the fuel subsidy, the government has been preparing an additional Rp 10.5 tril

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – The public debate continues on how Indonesia should respond to the debt moratorium offer from the Paris Club creditor countries, as the offer itself is still vag

Yogyakarta – Twenty-one percent out of a total of 2.5 million people in Yogyakarta are effectively unemployed, the province's Manpower and Transmigration Office says.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – After 59 years of independence, poverty remains a major problem in 190 regencies in the country, a minister says.

P.C. Naommy and M.

Syofiardi Bachyul and Puji Santoso, Padang/Pekanbaru – State electricity company PT PLN may be forced to cut off electricity in three provinces in Sumatra in the near future following t

Stevie Emilia, Shanghai – Current instability and the upcoming presidential elections in Indonesia constitute the main hindrance to the national target of halving the poverty rate, econ

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The government announced on Monday its plan to develop several infrastructure projects worth more than Rp 200 trillion (US$23.5 billion) over five years in the t

Moch. N.

Eva C.

Mataram – Indonesia's human resources development index (IPM) remains low among 175 countries in the world and it is worrying, chairwoman of the Family Planning Board (BKKBN) Sumarjati

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – At the end of this month Indonesia will become the last of the economies plunged into chaos by the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis to graduate from the IMF and is

Dadan Wijaksana, Jakarta – The meeting of the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) was a disappointment because it did not address measures needed to tackle the country's huge debt, In

Andrew Burrell – It's an alarming statistic that helps explain Indonesia's economic, political and social predicament: about 110 million people are scraping by on less than $US2 ($2.70)

The country may obtain some US$2.7 billion in fresh loans from the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI) to help finance next year's state budget.

Jakarta – The government will allocate Rp 11.7 trillion to build and repair infrastructure across the country in 2004.

Robert Go, Jakarta – Foreign donors make this a merry season for the cash-strapped Indonesian government.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The World Bank has announced an ambitious new lending program for Indonesia where money will go to organisations or local governments that can show they have ta

The World Bank announced plans to boost lending to Indonesia to help lift millions out of poverty but said much of the extra aid depends on greater efforts to fight rampant corruption a

Indonesia's dilapidated infrastructure poses a greater threat to human life than terrorism and will hamper long-term growth unless there is urgent new investment, the World Bank says.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesia's plans to use nuclear power to meet its spiralling energy demands have been boosted by the Russian Government's approval of a draft agreement allowin

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – With Indonesia's power needs hovering on the critical, a mothballed specter from the unlamented Suharto past – a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired plant in central Java –

Jakarta/Wamena – At least two of nine soldiers, charged with involvement in April's deadly raid on the Wamena military district arsenal in the troubled province of Papua, are threatened